O'Brien, Elizabeth Tavares and William Burke are accused in a federal indictment with rigging the hiring process at the probation department to favor candidates promoted by the powerful state lawmakers who set the agency's budget.

The Boston Globe reports that defense attorneys argued in a court filing this week that federal prosecutors were attempting to criminalize patronage and "micromanage state politics."

The motion notes that Massachusetts U.S. Attorney Carmen Ortiz has said patronage is not in and of itself illegal.

Lawyers for Boston Marathon bomber Dzkokhar Tsarnaev rested their case in his federal death penalty trial Tuesday after presenting a brief case aimed at showing his late older brother was the mastermind of the 2013 terror attack.